Harry Potter and the Avatar of Balance
by Seldevaisilion
Summary: Harry has decided to return for his seventh year at Hogwarts. As he struggles to figure out the events of his summer, a stranger enters Hogwarts in the middle of the night, bringing great changes to the school and to Harry and Draco's final year.
1. Chapter 1

As promised, here is the new rendition of this story, complete with ritual disclaimer. I won't delay you any further than that .

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That enviable right belongs to J.K. Rowling. I also do not own any references made to Lord of the Rings or Anne McCaffery's Pern novels. The things in this story that are mine are the non-HP and non-LOTR events you'll hear about, most of the minor (and some of the not-so-minor) characters, and maybe the plot (but I could be wrong). As a final warning in case you didn't read the summary (or I've changed it since writing this disclaimer), this story will eventually have slash of the HD and GS variety and maybe some others. It will also be heavily AU, so don't expect to understand everything you read right off and don't get mad if I do something you don't agree with.

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**Harry Potter and the Avatar of Balance**

**Prologue**

It was a perfectly normal night on Privet Drive in Little Whinging. Nothing was out and about moving that late at night, as all the residents were too busy sleeping after spending the day at their jobs. If any of them had been looking out their windows, they would have seen nothing but the empty street full of the fog that had been plaguing most of England in recent months. It was a perfectly normal night after all. Not a soul in the neighborhood was awake, not even a young black haired boy who was as abnormal as it was possible to be.

The normal night ticked away, the hands on the boy's watch approaching midnight. As the last seconds marched past, the neighborhood lay still.

If the residents had been awake when their clocks began chiming, they would have had a very rude shock indeed. Upon the twelfth toll of the bell, the moon, just peaking in its arc across the sky and just a sliver past new, suddenly waxed to full and filled the street with shafts of soft silver light, dispersing the fog and leaving the entire neighborhood clearly visible. In an instant, the street was lit so completely that the street lights seemed useless. The perfect normal night on Privet Drive had just been shattered. Harry Potter woke up.

At first, he just stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out why he was awake. He felt none of the usual alarm signs that meant the Dark Lord Voldemort was feeling particularly strongly about something. Nor could he hear any sounds that might have roused him. He didn't notice that the moonlight shining through his window was brighter than it should have been.

As he lay there wondering what could have woken him, a sound reached his ears that made him dart to the window grabbing his wand from the bedside table. Galloping hooves were approaching quickly. Nearer and nearer they came. Harry held his breath.

Did Voldemort have centaurs on his side? That was stupid, Harry told himself. Centaurs were neutral by nature he knew; the one centaur at Hogwarts that had decided to join Dumbledore had been severely beaten by his fellows. What could it be then?

The hooves slowed to a trot, ringing loudly on the pavement as the pace slowed to a walk, until finally they stopped at the foot of the path leading to the doorway of Number 4. Though nothing was visible Harry stared at the spot where the sound had stopped, searching for some sign of the invisible creature. The minutes ticked by, and such was the effect of the being at the front walk, that Harry soon wondered if he had heard the hoof beats at all, or if it had just been the sleep muddled remnants of a dream. Yawning mightily, Harry returned to his bed, wand still in hand, and drifted back to sleep.

Down on the street, the mounted figure lowered his gaze from Harry's window where he had been starring into the boy's eyes. Slowly, his horse stepped forward onto the grass, careful to keep its foot falls muffled. If anyone on the street had been able to see the stranger through his cloak of moonlight, they would have thought they were losing their minds. If Harry Potter was as different as his family thought he could be, the man now riding next to their house, dragging his gauntleted hand lightly along the wall, would have struck them as completely impossible.

The Dursley's did not care for anything that wasn't completely and entirely ordinary. They loathed Harry for his special powers, and they would have loathed their strange visitor just as much, if not more. He wore a full length traveling cloak that hung down low enough to drag on the ground slightly when he walked. The cowl was raised and nothing could be seen of his face except for two shining points of blue light, the moonlight reflected in his eyes no matter where he looked. The hand that extended from the cloak to touch the walls of Number 4 was gloved in a fine armor that seemed to be more like a second skin with the ease with which it moved.

His mount was just as spectacular. Completely silver, it seemed to glow and reflect the moonlight even when in shadows. He stood as high in the shoulder as the roof of a car, though his hooves touched the earth but lightly.

The stranger walked around Number 4 for a little more than an hour, the hoof falls of his horse thudding dully in the earth around the house. Occasionally, the horse would snort softly, and the man would nod, as if carrying on with a private conversation. When the clocks began to strike again, the horse moved back out onto the pavement, his hooves making sharp staccato beats as he gathered speed. Just as the clocks struck the twelfth tone, the horse and rider were gone, vanished between rays of moonlight.

Up in his room, Harry bolted upright once more. He had definitely heard hoof beats, and this time there was no enchanted gaze to make him forget it. It took Harry Potter a long time after that to fall back asleep.

**Chapter 1**

A few hours of sleep was all Harry managed to get after that nighttime occurrence. His fitful dreams of lockets, cups, snakes, and an indistinct shadow were shattered by the screeching of his Aunt. It took Harry a minute to realize what it was he was hearing.

"DESTROYED!" Came the shriek from downstairs. "ALL OF IT'S BEEN TRAMPLED!"

Harry nearly fell out of bed as these words finally penetrated his sleep muddled mind. He groped for his wand and then scrambled to the window. It was immediately apparent what had upset his aunt. The ground under Harry's window was covered in hoof prints. Harry looked to either side and saw that the track went around the corner of the house, as if a heard of horses had circled the house once in the night, and then vanished.

_Or, _thought Harry remembering the sounds he had heard, _as if one horse had circled over and over again looking for something it couldn't find._ Harry swallowed nervously. Was it possible for one of Voldemort's servants to have gotten that close and, not being able to find the house, just circled it for hours? He didn't know exactly how the enchantment worked after all. The only specific thing he knew of the enchantment was that he and the Dursley's had to live in the same house.

He mulled it all over as he showered and dressed. If there were hoof prints around the house, then he definitely hadn't imagined what he'd heard last night. But what could have made those prints? And more importantly, who did, whatever it was, serve?

Harry managed to make it all the way to the kitchen and start in on breakfast before his Aunt and Uncle came back into the house and spotted him. "Explain this!" shouted his Uncle without preamble. Harry, his mouth full of toast, nearly choked as his Uncle dragged him out the back door. Harry stared at the back yard as his aunt and uncle stood fuming in the doorway.

In a giant ring around the house, there was a trampled path running along the wall about a meter away. Harry walked up to it and knelt down. The tracks looked like a regular horse's hooves, though that didn't mean much. He looked up at the sky half expecting to see Death Eaters descending on him in broad daylight. He shook that thought away; the protective enchantment would last until the following evening, when members of the Order would arrive to move Harry and the Dursley's to safe locations.

As he brought his gaze back to the ground, something caught Harry's eye on the wall. He walked over to it, fighting his way through the half trampled hydrangea bush, and found that it was a band of silvery dust that seemed to be clinging to the wall of the house. He reached up and tried to rub it off, but not even a spec came away on his finger. Wondering what could have left it there, Harry finally turned back to his Aunt and Uncle.

"Well?" Aunt Petunia said, sounding nervous. Harry shrugged.

"I have no idea," he said blandly, knowing that his Uncle wouldn't believe him for a minute.

"No idea, do you?" Uncle Vernon said, his face turning the predictable shade of purple, "Well boy, I'll have you know we expect to come back to this house when all this is over. We didn't agree to leave and let your freaky little friends wreck the place!"

"The Order already did everything they needed to last week when I got home," Harry said, shrugging again. "Whatever did this," and he gestured at the hoof prints, "wasn't any of the Order." He watched as his Uncle's face turned from purple to white as he made the same conclusion that Harry had made.

"Then it's that other lot," Vernon whispered, his eyes darting around checking for any neighbors within ear shot, "the ones who are out to get you."

"It may have been," Harry said, looking around the back yard again. Something didn't fit with that though. Why, if it had been one of Voldemort's servants, had it just left? Why not lie in wait for him to show himself?

"Right," Said Vernon, jarring Harry out of his thoughts, "Come on then Petunia, we're leaving."

"You- you can't leave yet!" Harry spluttered, following his Uncle back into the house, "If you leave now, then Voldemort would kill all of us or worse!"

"I'm not staying here waiting for some ruddy freak to walk through my door and blow my head off, you hear?!" Vernon shouted at him.

"Look," said Harry, trying a last ditch attempt, "Voldemort can't attack us here as long as we all stay put. That will hold until one of us moves out or I turn seventeen, and that's not until the end of the month."

"He's right, Vernon," Petunia said shakily from the doorway. Harry and Uncle Vernon fell silent in surprise. "We'll have to wait here until tomorrow night. It'll be far safer leaving with some…" she swallowed, "wizards… than on our own." Harry sighed in relief; his Uncle wouldn't contradict his Aunt when she used that tone.

The rest of that day the Dursley's and Harry avoided each other, all of them going about and finishing their packing. Harry had cleaned out his school trunk and packed everything into a small pouch that he looped around his belt medieval style. Hermione had sent it to him the week before via the muggle post. Enchanted as it was, everything he wanted to take with him fit easily inside.

He walked over to the window where his owl, Hedwig, was sitting on top of her cage. "Are you ready?" He asked her. Hedwig nipped him lightly on the finger and hopped onto his arm. Harry removed the vial of potion that had been inside the pouch when Hermione sent it to him and emptied it onto Hedwig. The owl immediately became chameleon like, her feathers turning the color of the wall behind her.

"Fly low, and safe journey," Harry whispered, then launched her out the window. The disillusioned owl disappeared quickly from site and Harry went to bed, though he didn't sleep much. His dreams were once more troubled by the images of the Horcruxes, only now they were surrounded by faceless hoofed creatures that pranced in circles and drew silver lines on walls.

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I know it's a little shorter than what some of you might expect from my previous work, but it gets longer, I promise. Please review, and I'll see you again next week. Ciao.


	2. Chapter 2

OK Here we are again. Judging from the amount of reviews and added watchers to the previous version of this tale, I'm guessing that most of my readers haven't reached Chapter 28 yet. For those of you who have and are now reading this story, and for those of you who say "Screw that old stuff and bring on the new" here is Chapter 2. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 2**

The next day Harry spent most of the day in his room, pacing back and forth. Occasionally he thought he saw a flash of color go by his window, but every time he looked out the window, wand drawn and ready, he saw nothing out of place except the track of hoof prints that continued around the house.

The Dursleys grew increasingly more nervous as the day drew on. Uncle Vernon kept sitting down only to jump up again as if he had sat on a pin and continue pacing. Aunt Petunia was going around the house continuously, making sure there were no valuables that she hadn't locked up. Dudley on the other hand, kept doing something Harry would have found most strange. He kept walking up to his cousin's room, and raising his fist as if to knock, only to turn around and hurry back to his own room.

Their neighbors spent the day making a point to wander by Number Four, muttering about the tightly drawn shades, the trampled garden and lawn, and the dark haired boy that kept sticking his head out the window and sweeping a thin stick back and forth. That, they all thought, must be the Potter boy; the one who attended St. Brutis' Acadamy for Incurably Criminal Boys. What a shame that he spent his day trying to hit birds with a stick.

At 11:00 PM, Harry shouldered his Firebolt and walked downstairs. The Dursleys were all waiting in the living room, and they all looked as nervous as Harry felt. Order members were supposed to arrive at 11:15 to collect the Dursleys, and more at 11:30 to collect Harry.

Precisely at 11:15, there was a knock on the door. Harry got up to go open it, and was mildly surprised when Dudley followed him to the front hall. His cousin hung well back as Harry opened the door to reveal Daedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones, the two Order members that were going to take the Dursleys to their new house. Harry glimpsed a black Town Car idling on the street outside. Uncle Vernon grumbled a bit about the move as they loaded up the town car. Finally, they all stood on the walk, facing Harry as he stood in the door.

"Well boy," Vernon said, looking slightly uncomfortable, "Good luck and all that." Harry nodded and wasn't surprised when his Uncle turned and climbed into the car without another word. Aunt Petunia looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't figure out how. She kept opening and closing her mouth, until finally she rushed forward and hugged Harry very awkwardly before rushing back to the car. Blinking in astonishment, it was a moment or two before he realized that Dudley was standing in front of him.

"Er, so long," said Harry a little awkwardly when Dudley didn't say anything.

"Oh, yeah," Dudley grunted, and then to Harry's great surprise, he held out his hand, "Thanks for… you know…" Dudley muttered. Harry smiled and gripped his cousin's hand.

"See you around Big D." Harry grinned as Dudley grinned back.

"See you." And then he was gone, and the car was turning the corner at the end of the street.

Harry sighed and walked back into the house. It was another minute before a large group of people landed in the back yard on an assortment of vehicles. The people who were going to guard his life stepped into the gleaming kitchen. Arthur, Bill, Ron, Fred, and George Weasley, Remus Lupin, his wife Nymphadora Tonks, Fleur Delacour, Mundungus Fletcher, Mad-eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hermione Granger, and last, and most massive, Rubeus Hagrid.

"All right," Moody said, as everyone squeezed into the kitchen, "Here's the plan." He withdrew a large flask from his coat and motioned for Hermione to get 6 glasses out of the cupboard behind her. "We're going to leave in seven pairs," he went on, glaring at Harry who had opened his mouth to protest, having recognized the contents of the flask as Polyjuice Potion, "Our six decoy Potters, Ron, Fred, George, Fleur, Hermione, and Mundungus, will each be paired with a protector." Mundungus let out a little whimper at this, but Moody silenced him with a glare as well. "Your hair, Potter," Moody growled. Harry sighed and pulled out a few strands and handed them to Moody. "Drink up!"

The six decoys drank and in a matter of seconds, Harry was looking at six replicas of himself. Harry felt his face turning red as all six decoys, without even bothering to turn around, started to change into the spare robes Moody had brought.

"Right then," said Moody when they were all ready, "Fred, you're with Arthur on broomstick. Fleur, you're with Bill on Thestral. Hermione, same for you and Kingsley. George, you're with Lupin on brooms, as are Ron and Tonks. Mundungus is with me on broom, and Harry, you're with Hagrid on the bike." Harry nodded. "You all know the plan, once we get airborne everyone makes for their portkey at top speed." Moody motioned for everyone to follow him and they all trooped out onto the lawn. Harry climbed into the side car of the motorcycle, gripping his wand in one hand, and his Firebolt in the other. As Moody raised his hand in preparation for liftoff, there was a great roar overhead. Fourteen heads snapped skyward as the dementor induced mist vanished in an instant.

Harry was completely unprepared for what was happening above them. Seven gigantic shadows were wheeling impossibly fast among numerous cloaked figures on broomsticks. The fourteen people on the ground watched as ten Death Eaters surrounded one of the shadows and sent ten green jets of light shooting at it. Harry gasped, and heard many of his companions do so as well, but the thing, which had looked as if it had no time to maneuver, had suddenly vanished, only to reappear above all the Death Eaters and covered them with flame. Instantly Harry knew what it was the Death Eaters were facing.

"Change of plans," Moody called out, "we're going near ground level. If there are dragon's about, the Statute of Secrecy is the least of our problems. GO!" On his signal, everyone leapt into the air and no sooner had they cleared the hedge then they rocketed away. Something didn't feel right to Harry though. His scar began burning and suddenly he knew, without a doubt, that Voldemort was nearby, but he was not fighting the dragons. He was flying low, following after a pair of figures on broomsticks.

"Hagrid," Harry called, "keep going, I'll catch up in a bit!"

"'Arry, whaddya think yer doin'?" Hagrid called. But Harry had already freed his broom, jumped onto it, and sped straight up towards the dragons. Aiming at the first Death Eater he could find, he pointed his wand and cried the first spell that came into his mind.

"_Expelliarmus!!!_"

"That's him!" "Don't kill him!" "Get him!" "After him!" Jets of red light shot into the space he had occupied an instant earlier, and by the light of the stunners, Harry saw that it wasn't just a dragon he was flying towards. There was someone on its back. The figure of a boy, who must have been half Harry's age, stood up and leaned to one side. His mount instantly turned in midair, exchanging its nose for its tail and diving in the opposite direction passing by Harry with mere centimeters to spare. The Death Eaters who had been chasing Harry were forced to scatter as the dragon drove right through the center of their formation. And then as Harry himself turned and shot back towards Hagrid, he saw the dragon spit fire towards the ground. He had a split second flash image of Voldemort, before the Dark Lord was engulfed in the fiery stream.

The Death Eaters all around gave a wail even as all seven dragons disappeared. It took Harry a minute to spot Hagrid, and he only did so by the expanding brick wall that three Death Eaters had just crashed into. Even as he put on a burst of extra speed, he saw the last Death Eater dodge a net only to fly into a jet of what Harry was certain was dragon-fire that had just been propelled out the exhaust pipe.

Harry came up level with the motorcycle again and tapped Hagrid on the arm to let the latter know he was okay. Hagrid led him on for another five minutes and then set down in the garden of a rather normal looking house.

"Wha' was the big idea, 'Arry, flyin' off like tha'." Hagrid asked angrily, as they trudged up the garden walk towards the back door, "I had ter use all them tricks Arthur and me put on the bike to get away from the lot that chased me."

"Sorry Hagrid," Harry said, instantly feeling guilty that he hadn't been there to help Hagrid, who was sporting several bruises, "I didn't see that bunch coming up behind you until I'd turned around."

"Ah, don't matter none," Hagrid said as he knocked on the door, "Importan' thing is yer safe."

Harry nodded grimly, "Voldemort knew I was moving tonight," he said.

"Tha' he did," Hagrid grunted, "We'll look inter it once we get back to headquarters." Their conversation was suspended as a blonde man with a rather large stomach opened the door.

"No trouble then Hagrid?" the man said, glancing around the back garden as Harry and Hagrid entered the house.

"Lot's o' trouble, Ted," growled Hagrid as he squeezed through the door, "Death Eaters knew we was moving, and You-Know-Who himself turned up. If it hadn't been fer the fact they lost control o' their own dragons, we probably wouldn' have made it."

"Dragons?" Ted Tonks asked, glancing at his ceiling as if one was going to tear the roof off.

"They didn' follow us," Hagrid said, "I reckon You-Know-Who did some kind of spell to disapperate the lot of em, after they went berserk an' all." Harry didn't add anything to this. Somehow though, he reckoned the dragons hadn't been out of control, nor had their riders had any love for the Dark Lord.

"Ted?" A woman called from the next room, "It's nearly time for the portkey, are Harry and Hagrid here yet?"

"We're coming," Ted called, and led the way into the kitchen. Harry jumped as the woman in front of the table turned around. Andromeda looked disturbingly like her sister Bellatrix, but in the next instant she had smiled and the resemblance was lost.

"Here we are," she said, gesturing to a hairbrush that was sitting on the counter. Hagrid and Harry each took an end of the hairbrush. In a matter of moments, it glowed blue and Harry felt the familiar tug behind his navel as the portkey yanked them off their feet.

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Feel free to correct any glaring fact errors, like if I used the wrong object for the portkey. I haven't had the time to dig up my copies of The Deathly Hollows and figure out which one has the pages printed in the right order. Please review, and I'll see you again next week. Ciao.


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